216 
A DISH OF NUTS. 
[Nature and Art, December 1, 1806. 
wine-barrels. Quoting again from Evelyn, who 
lavishes praises on the hazel,— 
“ Even after all the most signal services it was ever em- 
ployed in, and which might assuredly exalt this humble and 
common plant above all the trees of the wood, is that of 
hurdles. 
“Not that it is generally used for folding our innocent 
sheep, an emblem of the Church, but for making the walls 
of one of the first Christian oratories in the world, and par- 
ticularly in this island, that venerable and sacred fabric at 
Glastonbury founded by St. Joseph of Arimathea, which is 
storied to have been first composed but of a few small hazel 
rods interwoven about certain stakes driven into the ground ; 
and walls of this kind, instead of laths and puncheons, super- 
induced with a coarse mortar made of loam and straw, doe 
to this day enclose divers humble cottages, sheds, and out- 
houses in the country, and it is strong and lasting for such 
purposes, whole or cleft ; and I have seen ample enclosures 
of courts and g-ardens so secured.” 
In many parts of England it lias been the custom 
to pass the long winter evenings away by engaging in 
various games in which nuts performed an im- 
portant part ; and the trial for a sweetheart by their 
aid was, to the young ladies of the party at any 
rate, an interesting and important ceremony ; and 
thus was it conducted : — A basket or bag of nuts in 
their husks or cramps being produced, each young- 
lady was called on to state how many lovers she 
had, not always an easy task, as the following lines 
from an old English song will show : — 
“ For so many lovers had Sue of the Yale, 
That no cramp of nuts could give half of tho tale ; 
So she grasp’d a good handful 
To cast in the flame, 
Crying, If you were fift}', 
I’d roast you the same.” 
On the number being given, a cramp containing 
a corresponding number of nuts is drawn from the 
mass, and the name of one of the admirers being 
called, a nut is cast into the fire, the assembled 
party of divers into the future chanting in chorus, 
“ If you love me, rap and fly ; 
If you hate me, burn and die.” 
The boys usually engaged in a boisterous game 
of cob nut, which is played by boring holes in nuts 
and attaching them to a string, when they are let 
down one by one and their strength tested by strik- 
ing them violently against other nuts similarly 
arranged ; the challenge to combat being a sort of 
chant— 
“ Harry, Harry Hob-nut, 
Lay down your cob-nut.” 
And when victory smiled on some nut of more than 
ordinarily thick shell, and the antagonist lay shattered 
on the cap or hat usually used as an arena for these 
battles of nuts, the kernel was at once eaten by the 
owner of the “hard case,” who celebrated his 
triumph by the shrill imitation of the crowing of a 
cock — 
“ Cock-a-doodle-do ! 
Conqueror of two.” 
And so the season of frost and snow passed 
merrily in the old farms and country houses of the 
provinces. Yast quantities of both foreign and 
home-grown nuts are annually consumed in this 
country ; France, Portugal, Spain, and other 
countries sending their quota. Perhaps of all the 
so-called small nuts imported, the description known 
as the “ Barcelonas ” are held in the highest repute. 
They do not actually come from Barcelona, but are 
despatched from the port of Tarragona. Mr. Inglis, 
in writing of this branch of trade before the altera- 
tion in the duty, and when two shillings per bushel 
was charged, says, “ The annual average export of 
nuts from Tarragona is from 25,000 to 30,000 bags, 
of five bags to the ton, free on board at 17s. fid. 
per bag.” 
The return retained by Government of nuts of 
this description sent from the various foreign ports 
at which they are shipped to this country, gives for 
the year 1864, 204,264 bushels. 
In certain districts on the Continent, a very ex- 
cellent oil, very little inferior to oil of almonds, is 
made from the kernels of hazel-nuts. A kind of 
chocolate has also been prepared from them, and 
during periods of scarcity a substitute for bread has 
been sought in the paste made from ground nuts. 
Why a nut-shell should be so generally used as 
a standard of comparison for confined spaces, it is 
hard to say, as some nuts are by no means small. 
“ As much gold as you could put in a nut-shell,” 
would represent a very substantial quantity ; still 
the comparison, when applied to houses and rooms, 
is appropriate enough. 
It is related of a rather dilettante A. D. C., that 
on returning from leave of absence, he thus ad- 
dressed an old friend and companion in arms : — 
“ What, still in this wretched little nut-shell, my 
dear major 1 How long is this state of things to 
last 1 How much longer do you intend to vegetate 
here ? ” — “ Probably, my dear fellow, until I 
actually become a kernel ,” replied the economical 
field-officer. 
Much uncertainty exists as to the exact period at 
which the chestnut was first brought to England. 
It appears from all accounts probable that it was 
first brought to Europe from Asia Minor by the 
Greeks, about 504 B.C. Its name castanea, was no 
doubt, derived from Kastanea, a city in Pontus, in 
Asia. It appears also probable that the nuts were 
first sent to Rome in the reign of Tiberius Csesar. 
Pliny, in speaking of the chestnut, gives eight kinds 
as known to the Romans. Perhaps the most 
ancient cliestnut-tree we have any record of in this 
country, ‘is that known as the Tortworth chestnut, 
which grew on an estate in Gloucestershire, belong- 
ing to Lord Ducie. A portrait of this tree was 
taken, and an etching was executed in the year 
1772, beneath which the following inscription was 
placed : — • 
“ The east view of the ancient chestnut-tree at Tortworth, 
in the county of Gloucester, which measures 19 yards in 
circumference, and is mentioned by Sir Robert Atkins, in 
his history of that county, as a famous tree in King- John’s 
time ; and by Mr. Evelyn, in his 1 Silva,’ to have been so 
remarkable for its magnitude in the reign of King Stephen 
(1135), as then to be called the Great Chestnut of Tortworth, 
from which it may reasonably be presumed to have been 
standing before the Conquest (1066).” 
Many of our old English poets and ballad writers 
have celebrated the qualities and convivial associa- 
